Bay leaves as placecards - advice!

jojo2004

Hello!
Odd question, but I want to use bay leaves as placecards - writing each name on in gold ink. Do I need fresh bay leaves, or dried, and will they keep - i.e. how far in advance can I buy them? If fresh, any thoughts on where to get them.

Told you it was an odd question...

Luella-14_2

You would probably need fresh - dried bay leaves can be fragile and I imagine would crumble when you tried to write on them.
I know you can buy large packets of fresh ones at my local indian food shop, but they do dry out very quickly (a day or so).
Depending on how many you need, you may be best off buying a small tree and picking the leaves yourself the day before you need them. You can buy miniature trees from about £20 try toptopiary.co.uk - and obviously you'll still have the tree to use in future. But try it a couple of times first, they may last longer in the fridge. If not, holly lasts a bit better.
I love the idea by the way, sounds very pretty.

trinity_enigma

No idea if this will work- it's too early on a Saturday for me! But what about if you wrote on fresh ones and then varnished them in some way. That way you could probably do them more in advance but would probably be quite time consuming.

PootleFlump_3

If you get some mod podge that should work if you paint it over the top once you have written on them.

Mrs_Huggett

Try having a look around you neighbouhood or asking anyone if they have any bay in thier garden, you could then trim a few branches off and stick them in a bucket of water, would probably only last for about two days though I would think, you would probably need to write on them as closely as possible to the time you need them, the night before should be OK, why don't you try experimenting, then at least you will be sure what works best, good luck!!

double_mummy

i would try writing on one letting the ink dry and then covering in clear nail varnish - this means that they will be sealed and should keep for a week or so so you can have a bit more time to do them than the night before

i would do 1 a week for 3 months 6 weeks and see how far back you can go you've still got plenty of time to practice

jojo2004

Thanks all - will experiment and report back. x

Scotsbride

jojo2004 wrote: »

Hello!
Odd question, but I want to use bay leaves as placecards - writing each name on in gold ink. Do I need fresh bay leaves, or dried, and will they keep - i.e. how far in advance can I buy them? If fresh, any thoughts on where to get them.

Told you it was an odd question...

dried bay leaves can be quite brittle. you can get mini bay tree in 10cm pots for about £4 from garden centres or try flower markets if you live around London try covent garden flower market in london and head over to evergreens I know they do them. If you need to protect them from hard frosts. you could write the name in gold pen on the leaves on the plant then pick them when you're ready to use them. hope this helps

jenhug

write on one and put it in a bag in the fridge (fresh leaf) see how it goes. should keep for several days i'd think.